The Incredible Shrinking Antenna

pinkUZI writes "NYTimes ran an article yesterday about a new material, created by a general manager at Integral Technologies, that would enable use of the plastic mold of a cell phone as its Antenna. Pretty neat, as it actually increases the size of the antenna while decreasing the footprint."

Comments

Capacitance?

[LoonXTall]

Does this even work with a hand holding the plastic case?

Brain Cancer?

[FortKnox]

How does this affect the old "Brain Cancer" study for cell phones?

I heard that you want the antenna pointing out, not up, now the whole phone's the antenna.

Anyone know the dealio with this? IANAD, so please take this with a grain of salt.

Re:Brain Cancer?

[Geekboy(Wizard)]

It implies it. EM field size is partialy controlled by power. If the frequency stayed the same, then you would have less power, over a larger area (dissapated). That's good, but I'm still nervous about having a transmitter that close to my head.

Longer = BAD, right?

[intrepidsilence]

I'm definitely not the athority on this subject, but i thought the antenna was tuned to the proper frequency and that making it longer (or shorter) would make it less effective. Anybody want to speak to this?

"a very effective radiator"

[mosch]

Am I the only person who doesn't particularly like the idea of "a very effective radiator" next to my head part of the time, and next to my balls the rest of the time?

It'd be nice to not have an antenna to break off, but I don't want it to be any more effective than the current ones, unless it's more directional, which the article does not indicate it is. More effective cell coverage seems a better solution to me.

On the other hand, some of the other applications sound mighty nice, especially for military vehicles and such.

Doubling the output power?

[psyconaut]

You don't want the output power to actually be doubled...you want it to be just right, and your output power is effectively government by the cellsite that you're using for your upstream transmission.

So hopefully this will just end up as a more *efficient* antenna and not a more powerful one ;-)

I can also see some cellphone manufacturers not wanting to cast their phones in silcone -- preferring ABS.

Plus, I wonder that without an RF "hotspot" where the antenna is, would this phone have a *better* chance of irradiating your head?

CyberPhone?

[Aaron_Pike]

You know, some rejection-resistant artificial bones are made of plastics. Cochlear implanted speakers, remote control (or heck, subdermal) input for dialing and playing wacky snake games, subvocal microphones, and you've got an extremely subtle telephone system.

Imagine all the implanted execs actually looking forward to boring meetings to call up their dial-a-pr0n.

Re:Shrinkage = Bad

[jeffy210]

Actually, I have an 8260 (even smaller than the 3360) and it works just fine holding it normally. The mic is good enough to pick up your voice at a normal volume when it is next to your ear. You don't have to consistently move it back and forth for the other person to hear you. Coupled with the headset and sometimes it feels like the person is right next to me. Maybe it is the area that you are in?

This is nothing..try fractal antennas.

[Bowie J. Poag]

Amusingly, Slashdot rejected an article submission I had for fractal antennas and how they are vastly superior in terms of reception to whats on the market today. Better than the stuff mentioned in this article, certianly.

Cheers, and yes PROPAGANDA will be back soon.

I wonder what

[MsWillow]

What the changes in impedance will be from user to user? Will having sweaty palms make much difference? And, while a larger antenna might seem better, would it be directional, varying with the shape of the phone?

I'm not sure that I want my hand and face even closer to the source of the RF radiation. Doesn't the field strength vary with the inverse cube of distance? There's not much distance when you're touching the antenna.

Other applications?

[The MoMo King]

How easily can this be ported to say using a plastic computer case for an antenna for wireless lan or how about a cordless phone? With all the plastic in cars ... imagine the reception you could get? Would this mean that my alarm radio will finally get good reception? Could I finally have a decent wireless link for my TiVo!?

Re:Ummm what external antenna?

[bluesangria]

Yes, but look at it from the perspective of the cell phone signal providers. They can sell more phones if 1) their phones can pick up signals from further away and 2) they save money because they don't need to have as many towers for coverage.

While I'm not an electrical expert, I see tons of potential for this. How about instead of that ugly TV antenna on your house, you just place a conductive plastic layer all over your roof?

all fake

[rebelcool]

ive lost the link to the article, but the FTC is taking them on for deceptive marketing. they do nothing, and in some cases, actually reduce reception..

Re:Uhuh...

[david duncan scott]

I believe you, BUT did they do those things while they were managers, or before they were promoted?

It's a real problem, one that both IBM and many school systems face: how do you reward your best people? Traditionally, they get promoted, and one often finds that great researchers then become competent administrators (if you're lucky). You've lost a PhD and gained an MBA. Similarly many teachers become principals and are lost to the classroom.

IBM came up with Fellowships for these guys -- recognition and money, but they can still get their hands dirty. Some school systems are creating titles like "Master Teacher", and giving them some authority to buck the system but letting them continue to teach.

Re:Redundant?

[monkeydo]

Fuel cell technology will enable smaller batteries, and in the future your phone may be nothing more than a card in your wallet and you will talk on your wireless headset.